Deer Valley Resort is in for a major facelift with the expansion and renovation of its main Snow Park Lodge.
The Park City resort, along with its parent company Alterra Mountain Company, announced Monday that it is refining plans to transform the lodge and the nearby 15 acres of surface parking lots into “a modern and convenient world-class base area.” Rich Wagner, the Snow Park project manager, told The Tribune he anticipates the project will be completed by 2026.
The first phase will primarily consist of converting the transportation hub and parking lot just south of the existing Snow Park Lodge into an underground parking structure. The resort applied for a conditional use permit Monday and plans to break ground in the spring of 2022.
Additional facilities will be built atop the parking structure in future phases. The improvements will eventually include expanded food and drink options, skier services, guest lodging and residences. Wagner said the interior of the existing Snow Park Lodge will also likely be reconfigured for easier access and to provide better views of the ski area. The mountain transportation network will be streamlined with guests able to access it via multiple points from new parking facilities. Plus, a ski beach will be added on the mountain side of the lodge, facing the Champions course that annually hosts World Cup moguls competition.
The architecture and design of the new lodge will be inspired by the surrounding mountains. Wagner said Alterra has been focusing on long-term benefits to the resort, which has allowed his team to incorporate more aesthetics and more of the values of the Park City community than it could in a typical redevelopment project.
“We’ve spent a great deal of time assessing our guests’ needs and how best to meet them, while considering how to balance this with the interests of the local community,” Wagner said in a news release. “Our conceptual plans for Snow Park are designed to be consistent with Park City’s vision and values and respectful of our neighbors and the local community. We’ve begun reaching out to share our concepts and preliminary designs and gain valuable community feedback, and we’ll continue doing that throughout the City’s review and approval process.”
When finished, the project will complete Deer Valley’s master plan, which was approved by Park City officials in 1977. The resort said it intends to adhere to previously determined limits on height and square footage.
Deer Valley is one of four resorts earmarked for major renovations as part of Alterra’s plan to invest $207 million in capital improvements in the next year. Squaw Valley and Mammoth Mountain in California will see a gondola installation and a main lodge redesign, respectively. Steamboat Springs in Colorado will undergo a base redevelopment and terrain expansion as part of a three-year, $135 million plan.
The estimated cost of the Deer Valley renovation has not been disclosed.
“This past season has proven that our guests are loyal, passionate and looking forward to the many seasons ahead,” Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory said in a statement, “and we plan to provide them with a premier guest experience as we focus on the long-term future of our mountain destinations.”
Wagner added that, as a construction project that is trying to be fit in around the operations of the resort, the four-year timeline will be challenging.
“We’ve got to make the guest experience as good as possible and still get things done, right?” he said. “So that’s a tough balance. There’s a point where we have too much stuff going on and then a point where it just drags out for 15 years, which we don’t want to do.”
